In a recent chat with Marc Spears of Andscape, DeMarcus Cousins talked about a lot, including the current state of his career and mindset in Denver, Cousins also reflected on his seven seasons with the Sacramento Kings, the team that drafted Cousins with the fifth overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, and was in less than glowing terms. Here is what the four-time All-Star had to say:
“What did Sac do for me? Besides say my name [draft day],I did more for them than they did for me. That’s just being honest. Just being 100% honest. I had two owners, three GMs, seven coaches in seven years. I was there seven years. I had three GMs, two owners and seven coaches. Not much more needs to be said.”
For some reason George Karl decided to inject himself ,for no reason, into what was at the time, a non-situation, responding with this gem:
Karl decided he needed to be the latest in a long line of caucasians that thought it their place to tell a black athlete to essentially ”shut up and be grateful for the money we allowed you to have”. In addition it speaks to this erroneous perception that it is a ”privilege” to play professional sports, attempting to postulate that the 400+ plus dudes in the Association were all just plucked out of obscurity , like a group of powerball lottery winners. It negates the awe-inspiring amount of work, dedication, sacrifice that these guys had to do position themselves to be able to pay professional basketball. Boogie did not get that point by happenstance. Understand this George Karl and anyone else whose brains will not allow them to grasp that concept- NBA teams do not draft these players because they are being nice or they want to do them a favor. They pick these guys for one primary reason- the team thinks the player can help them win. Why would these teams think that? It is because of the skills displayed on the court; skills that have been honed over the years of hard work and the willing to do what other were not so they could get to this point. Had the Kings not drafted Boogie, there are 29 other teams that would have done so and it certainly would not to display their magnanimity. Once again, George Karl, I know you are getting up there in age, and the comprehension ability may be slipping, but the Sacramento Kings did not ”give” DeMarcus Cousins an opportunity to be a professional basketball player, he earned that by working his keister off for years.
